Instinctive
by Poisoned Scarlet
Summary: Because Blair's magic should never be taken lightly – a two-piece tale of troublesome spells and the repercussions that come with it.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Soul Eater.

**Instinctive  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlet_

* * *

_Part 1 - Soul_

Maka bit her lip, fists shaking in rage as she seethed at the sight of Blair muffling Soul in her breasts. But it wasn't the fact that she was smothering him for the first time in what seemed to be months, it was the fact that Blair had worked some funky _magic _and turned him into a drooling _dog_!

It would be Halloween in two days.

When Maka said Soul needed to get a good costume for Kid's Halloween Bash, she didn't mean _this_!

"Blair!" Maka indignantly shouted. "Turn Soul back to normal this instant!"

"Aw, but look, he's so cute as a doggy!" Blair cooed, squeezing him tightly. "Blair doesn't usually like dogs, but he's just so adorable!" He choked at that, his floppy ears pressing against his skull as her breasts began to suffocate him.

Maka saw him struggling, slightly panicked, but she made no effort to help him.

He had sure been _enjoying _being smothered in her gigantic boobs, if by the way he had been drooling moments ago said anything.

"And he doesn't want to go back to normal, do you, Soul-kun? No, you don't! _No, you don't!_" She crooned, tightening her death grip around the poor boys neck.

Soul pleadingly looked at Maka but instead of the reaction he hoped for (Maka saving the day with her trusty book, even if it _was _his skull getting bashed in the process), Maka narrowed her eyes coldly and shifted her gaze away from him.

"Look, I have some stuff to work on for Professor Sid's class so—!" Maka grit her teeth, on the brink of hitting something by the way Blair just ignored her. "Fine! Whatever! I'll be back in a couple of hours! Don't wait up for me!" Maka picked up her bag from the couch and stomped to the door, slamming it open in her fury.

A whimper made her falter but she dismissed it until she heard rapid thumps and Blair's whine of complaint.

Maka turned and gasped when she felt Soul leap onto her, making her stagger back and fall due to his weight. Her head cracked against the floor and Maka yelped, tears springing to her eyes from the white-hot pain in the back of her skull.

"SOUL, GET OFF ME!" Maka shrieked, shutting her eyes and clutching her head. A concerned whine came from Soul and Maka cracked one watery eye open to see lazy red eyes peering into her own with immense worry. "Soul—!"

She froze up when he licked a tear from her cheek.

He licked her.

_He licked her – _like a _dog_!

"BLAIR!" Maka exploded, shoving the boy off and zeroing in on the meek cat. "If you don't turn Soul back to normal, so help me, I'll take care of the _other_ eight lives you have!" She threatened.

"But I _can't!_" Blair whined back. "Blair's magic can't be reversed that easily! Soul-kun will stay like that until tomorrow!" Her smile turned coy. "Or until Halloween, if you want...he must be an _animal _in bed!" She laughed, coquettishly.

"_BLAIR!_"

"MEOWR!" Blair hissed, transforming into a cat and stealthily skidding around Maka's vicious blows.

She aimed and threw her book at the cat, smirking when she hit Blair off the edge of the windowsill to plummet below.

Although she lost a book, she got the satisfaction of throwing Blair out the window... even though the cat had probably landed on her feet neatly and was continuing on her merry way.

"Damn." Maka cursed, clenching her fist. "Just wait until she gets back, she'll wish she never got the bright idea of turning Soul into a dog..." At the thought of the boy, Maka searched around for him. "Soul?"

His ears perked at the sound of his name.

"Soul, get over here!" Maka snapped, surprised when Soul obediently skid to a stop in front of her. Blair had the nerve to clasp a spiked collar around his neck, with a doggy-tag in the shape of a soul with his name carved in it. Maka's anger slowly dissipated at the sight of his lazy, but curious, eyes.

"Look at you." Maka mumbled, kneeling. Soul readily leaned in, curious as to what she was going to do. "This is really degrading... really uncool." She gently unclasped the collar, smiling when his crimson eyes brightened. "There. You won't be needing this anymore!"

Soul looked at the collar for a second before losing interest and looking back up into her eyes eagerly.

"Um, can you even walk?" Maka asked, nervously. He had the unnerving ability to run on all fours... "Here, give me your hand—oh...okay..." Maka blinked at how obediently he gave her his hand, a slight grin on his face. She had a feeling Soul was still there, _somewhere_, under all that magic, and was amused by her awkwardness around him. "Up!" Maka stood up and Soul followed, wobbling a little but maintaining his balance. "Good!" Maka beamed. "Now, walk!"

"Uh..." He was a little unsteady but after a few uncertain steps Soul walked as normally as how he usually did. Maka was a little relieved that he still slouched – it meant Blair's magic was slowly wearing off. Perhaps Soul would be able to regain some higher functions after a few more hours...

"Oh, no." Maka whispered, dropping her eyes. His sharp ears perked, having caught her disheartened tone, and he immediately snapped his head to her, at attention. "I have to finish that report for Sid's class by today! But you're in no condition to leave..."

"... Maka?"

Her eyes widened and she looked up, expecting to see amused, calculative, crimson eyes but was instead met with the same innocent and naïve glint as before.

"Can you talk?" Maka asked, hopefully. "Say something else! Say...um... book!"

Soul stared blankly at her.

_Not the most encouraging word I could've used,_ she thought, dryly. "Um, Black Star? Say Black Star!" Maka pleaded. "Come on, Soul, say Black Star for me!"

"... Maka."

"Cat?"

"Maka."

"Dog! Say dog!"

"Maka?"

"Mama?"

"_Maka!_" Soul insisted, although his tone did hold a peculiar amount of amusement from how this was turning out.

Maka hung her head. "Is my name the _only_ thing you can say?"

"Ma_-kaaa!_" He sang, with a mocking edge that made her look up sharply.

"Soul, you better not be messing with me." She threatened, but he merely cocked his head. After meeting his gaze for a few more seconds, she confirmed he wasn't just teasing her, and sighed depressingly again. "Stupid Blair..."

She gasped in surprise when she felt his nose nuzzle her neck, his arms wrapping around her tightly in open affection. He was silent on his feet, for someone who had only been partly transformed into an animal. She never noticed just how much _bigger_ he actually was, compared to how they were when they had been younger, but in those moments she wished she had; it would have prevented the six second delay of her reaction.

"Ugh! Soul, no! Get off!" Maka groaned, her cheeks burning red when he licked her cheek in affection again. "Ew! Soul, th-that's gross—ack!" She scowled, Soul happily ignoring her and nuzzling his nose into her cheek.

She tried to be mad, she really did.

Her partner was _technically_ sexually assaulting her and he refused to stop, but it was impossible to stay angry at him when he was gazing at her with those adorable, jewel—!

"Ooh, no! Not me, too!" Maka bemoaned, tearing her eyes away from him. "Why'd you let Blair turn you into a dog, Soul, you big idiot!" She pet his head regardless, smiling softly when he barked. There was a swish, like air being cut, and Maka slowly looked to the side to see a flash of white...

"You have a _tail_?" Maka squawked, grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him around. Indeed, there was a white, spunky, tail sticking out from his pants. Maka was dryly grateful Blair had enough sense to create a hole where the tail could slip through in his jeans or he would have to take them off...

He only leaned against her, letting his lips trail down her temple tenderly.

"Soul..." Maka uncomfortably shifted. He was hugging her rather tightly and every second she basked in this sudden influx of magically-induced affection, it was a second she was late to arrive to Sid's class. She found, to her horror, that she didn't mind if she were a few minutes late, and that was what propelled her to wiggle out of his embrace."Let go – I really have to get to Sid's class!"

Soul huffed, squeezing her against him to show he didn't care.

"Soul Eater!" Maka snapped, although she could not hide the smile at his reluctance. "I'll be back in _two _hours, okay? Just wait here for me!" She dumped him on the couch after a good push, raising a hand when Soul made to stand up. "No. Stay." His ears flattened but he obeyed. "Good... just stay there until I get back, okay?"

Soul frowned.

"_Okay_?"

He whined, queasy at the thought of being separated from his meister.

"I'll be back in two hours, just wait for me!" Maka repeated over her shoulder, giving his saddened red eyes one last glance before leaving her apartment. "Geez... why did he have to look at me like that?" She mumbled to herself, pushing her guilt aside to concentrate on the work she needed to complete in Shibusen.

* * *

She finished later than she anticipated.

She helped Sid out with some assignments and pushed her extra credit into Soul's low grade.

She always did that. It was the only way she could keep her honor student ranking, since they judged Soul's grade with her own and averaged out the score between them.

Soul was less inclined to work for his grade, even though he was fairly intelligent himself, and, as such, Maka usually helped out around the school, or completed a few extra credit works when she was bored. She often pushed those extra points to his grade, keeping it at a steady B average—or A, when he actually tried.

She pushed through the door of her shared apartment with a sigh of relief.

She'd taken little more than two hours but she doubted Soul would know the difference if he were still a cute, _adorable_, dog—!

"You're half an hour late." An annoyed voice came from the couch and Maka snapped her head up to meet lazy, irked, eyes.

"You can talk!" Maka exclaimed, somewhat disappointed to see awareness in his eyes. The innocent, childlike, glint had been cute...and would be missed by Maka, when she caught the amused, smoldering, gaze of her partner.

"Yeah, new trick I learned." Soul sarcastically said, although he still sat on the couch where she left him. His ears were droopy on his head and he made no motion to run up to greet her like she had been (secretly) hoping he would. "What took you so long?"

"Sid needed some help with extra assignments and I decided to stay a while to help him out...I guess I lost track of time again." Maka explained, somewhat disappointed Soul appeared to be back to normal. His ears didn't show signs of disappearing and she glimpsed his white tail before it hid itself from view again. She guessed he had only regained his higher functions, and he would be back to normal by tomorrow, as Blair had said. "Do you feel better?"

"Better than before." Soul dryly replied. "At least I can talk now." He heaved a sigh and sank back in the couch, as Maka plopped down beside him. She dropped her bag by her feet, aware of how his ears twitched at any sound – even those she, herself, could not hear.

Although the innocent sparkle of his eyes had been washed away by the fading magic in his system, she still wished she could have gotten to _play _with him—!

Maka chided herself for having such thoughts.

That was mean – and not to mention degrading for someone she admired so much.

Blair had been making a mockery of him by turning him into a dog – was she trying to say something, sublimely? Perhaps making a jab at Soul's loyalty to her? Or was she angry she could no longer flaunt her outfits to him, since a few months ago he had snapped nastily at Blair and told her to stop shoving her rack all up in his face because he wasn't interested.

He had been having a bad day, of course – a pop quiz in Stein's class, losing a bet to Black Star, getting his lunch all over him when someone bumped into him, getting flooded with annoying partnership letters – and was not in the mood to deal with Blair.

But it was _her_ fault he had snapped in the first place.

She had made a nasty comment of his perverse, disgusting, ways when Blair started the usual late evening harassment, and he had given her a heated glare, one with a mixture of exasperation and annoyance, and decided to put her jealous fits to stop once and for all.

Needless to say, both women were meek by the time dinner arrived, and Maka had slid him his favourite dish without speaking a word to him; a token of her gratitude.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

Maka flushed, caught staring. "No, nothing... just...um..."

"Look," Soul began, irritably, "I know I look weird and _uncool _with these stupid ears on my head but—!"

"They're not weird." Maka softly assured, reaching out hesitantly. He tensed, as her hand fell on top of his head. "They're actually kind of...cute." She scratched, against her will, much like she would do when Blair was a cat, and she was surprised to be rewarded with a low whine of gratification from him. "What the—!" Maka retracted her hand, wide-eyed.

Soul lost the haziness in his eyes and jerked back, his ears flat against his head. "Uh... That—never happened."

"Did you just... whine?"

"No."

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't." Soul scrambled up, glaring. "You're hearing things."

A grin split her face in delight. "Yes, you did! You whined! Do it again!"

"NO!" Soul growled, baring his teeth at her aggressively.

Maka was unfazed. "Come on, Soul! Whine! That was so cute—please?"

"Cute?" Soul repeated, with disgust. "No, thanks, I'll pass." He made to storm in the direction of his room when he felt those _fingers—_those accursed, wonderful, _fingers—_begin to skillfully scratch _that _spot by his ears – the spot that made his spine tingle and fog clear his mind.

Maka was surprised when Soul leaned toward her eagerly, returning to his seat so she had better access. She smiled, continuing her scratching, and watched as he slumped down against her. She paused, momentarily, only enough to adjust him on her lap, before she began the affectionate gesture all over again. She watched the expressions on his face, a frown when she slowed, a dazed smile when she didn't. She even thought she saw a little drool run down his chin. It was so unlike Soul, so strange to see him so unguarded and relaxed, that she didn't notice the dangerously hazy glaze his eyes had acquired.

"_Maka_..." Soul moaned, and Maka froze.

Red flooded her cheeks and she felt the inexplicable urge to dart out of the room with her head bowed like she did something bad. The sound was rough—_pleasured—_and it made shivers rise on her skin when he drifted dazed crimson eyes into her own.

"Why'd you stop?" He asked, almost whining. Despite the bratty tone, Maka wasn't angry. Her mind, clearly in the gutter, had conjured those sinful images, and Maka desperately scrambled to regain her lost decency.

"S-sorry." Maka muttered, continuing but with a much slower pace. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he sunk into her lap, his lazy eyes closing the longer she coddled him. There was a faint _thump, thump _that piqued her curiosity and she was mildly surprised to see it was his tail, hitting the couch with every wag.

"Does it... feel good?" Maka asked, hesitantly.

He cracked one eye open, tilting his head to glance at her. "It feels... nice."

"Nice?" Maka repeated, thoughtful. "What if I..." Her other hand twitched up, nervousness welling in her stomach at what she had planned to do. She had the cowardly thought of just sticking to what she had been doing before when she noticed Soul's eyes were trained on her, expectantly, and she sucked it up.

She was just petting him – like she did with Blair when she studied.

There was nothing wrong with that.

Maka let her hand smooth down his spine and she was rewarded with how he arched, a deep sigh escaping his lips. She could feel his back muscles, strong and hard, under her hand, and despite the warmth that had tinted her face, she couldn't really find it in herself to stop running her fingers down the contour of his back.

She was startled when he suddenly turned and, for a split second, she thought she had done something wrong, until he said, voice delirious with pleasure: "Don't stop..."

Her hand hesitantly laid on his stomach, splaying her fingers to feel hardened muscle beneath. She could trace the faint lines of each core muscle on his abdomen, the strength hidden beneath loose shirts and jackets, and the room felt hot compared to how cool his stomach felt – even with the thin layer of his shirt covering it.

She had the faint urge to lift it up so her hand could take in _all_ of his smooth skin when she remembered just _who _this was, and embarrassment flushed through her.

His transformation was making her emotions vulnerable; making them resurface from where she had quietly stashed them.

Her fingers were still languidly scratching his head, running over the silk of each ear, while her other hand absently stroked his stomach, as she immersed herself in a losing battle of wills against her heart.

She was on the verge of stopping, of leaving such dangerous territory with the alibi that she needed to cook dinner, when he abruptly rose and turned to kneel on the couch, leaning in very closely to her.

He was panting – she hadn't noticed he was panting until his mouth was inches from her own, hooded eyes meeting her wide ones.

"S-Soul..?" Maka whispered, uncertainly.

"You don't know what you're doing to me, do you?" Soul asked, voice dropped to a tenor she had never heard before; a husky sort of sound. She couldn't say she didn't like it, nor that it did not elicit a thrill deep within her.

"You...you said it felt good." Maka strangled out, when his hand touched her arm. His touch was hot. "I thought... I didn't know..."

"It _did_ feel good." Soul reassured, breath fanning her cheek.

"Then, what are you doing?" Maka asked, uncomfortably. She shifted, dropping her gaze down to the side. Her heart was hammering in her chest; her hands tremulous with the promise in his smoky gaze. "It felt good, right? Don't you want me to continue?"

"Yes," he whispered, and she nearly felt her heart give. She'd never heard Soul drop his voice quite like that. "But let's continue in a _different _way..." She didn't have to be looking at him to know that a wide grin had split his face.

Her eyes widened at his suggestive tone, face flushed a dark color of rogue. She darted her eyes to meet his own, swallowing when his lips feathered hers; his eyes half-lidded. The intention was clear, and she begrudged the excitement that shot down her body at the feel of his lips. "Soul—!"

"Blair is home!" Blair's cheerful voice rang from the windowsill Maka had thrown her out of hours prior. She jerked at the sound of her voice, colliding her forehead against Soul's.

Soul howled, the sound reminiscent of a dogs howl of pain, and backed away, clutching his head.

Maka groaned, feeling a bump begin to rise on her forehead. She was already dizzy with the hot feelings he had stirred deep within her, she didn't need a headache to accompany the disconcerting haze.

"Whoops!" Blair giggled, when she took in the flushed cheeks of Maka and slight panting coming from Soul. "Did Blair interrupt something important...?" She smiled mischievously at the panicked look Maka shot her over the back of her couch. "Blair can leave if you wish—!"

"NO!" Maka shouted, wincing. That wasn't cool – nor was the smug look she received from Soul at the pitched and breathy sound of her voice. "No, you can stay! I-I have to fix dinner!" She hastily excused herself, launching off the couch and into the kitchen to start on dinner.

Blair had expected some sort of punishment – perhaps a lecture, another violent outburst – but instead she had been met with a clearly high-strung girl whose usually glass sea foam eyes were fogged over with what Blair would purr to be _lust._

But it couldn't be.

Maka, suffocating on lust? That sounded absurd, even to the witch cat. The girl had more important things to take care of than the yearnings of her own body.

Blair shifted her eyes to Soul curiously. "Soul-kun," she called. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing you wouldn't have done." Soul smirked, standing up and dusting his pants off. He fixed his skewed shirt and started for his bedroom. "Call me when dinner is ready."

His door shut, and Blair pursed her lips in thought. "Blair, hmm...?" A grin cracked her face once she understood. She supposed even Maka was vulnerable to those feelings, if the right person came by to unearth them. "Soul-kun's such a naughty, naughty little doggy!"

Blair considered doing this again, for the hell of it.

The cat hopped on the ledge of the window, deciding that next Halloween, Soul wouldn't be as lucky.

He'd have to work for it next time.

* * *

**A.N: **I've been writing this on-off for a few weeks now. It was supposed to be a one-shot when I decided to have a second part accompany it. I have part 2 in the final stages, and it will be posted up soon. However, I can safely assure that it is _long_ - and for those of you who have stuck with me all this time, I'm sure you know by now that by _long, _I mean massive. I don't think you'll mind, though.

_Scarlett._


	2. Chapter 2

**Instinctive  
by. **_Poisoned Scarlet_

* * *

_Part 2 – Maka_

It was Blair's fault.

But Soul believed it was Maka's fault, too.

Halloween was around the corner and Maka had been fretting over what costume she would wear for this years Halloween Bash at Kid's house. The last year had been a disaster since Blair turned Soul into a drooling mongrel, but this year Maka had been sworn by the cat that she would behave.

Trusting a cat had been a fairly dumb idea – especially since deals didn't matter much when said cat was annoyed with Maka because she refused to give her crème that morning for molesting Soul again.

Maka had been going through a costume catalog while Soul watched TV that evening when she made the joking remark that she'd ask Blair to transform her into a cat for Halloween to make it easier on herself.

Blair heard.

And then it all went to hell...

"Maka, stop it—no, _wait_—! Damn..." Soul sighed when Maka caught her nails in his shirt. His favourite shirt. She tugged her hand back to disentangle the sharp claws to no avail. "Here, let me do it before you rip my shirt." He carefully unhooked her nails from his shirt, sighing when she just proceeded to leap on top of the couch. "Maka, stop it. You'll fall."

She didn't reply: she just sunk into a pounce, her tail swishing predatorily behind her, but before she could lunge to the dining room table, Soul grabbed her by the hips and yanked her back down.

He winced when her nails tore down the sofa.

When she transformed back in the morning, she was going to be _pissed..._

"Stay still!" Maka made a low noise in the back of her throat, not wanting to be set on the couch. Her luminescent emerald eyes were fixed on something behind him, something that had ensnared her attention. Her ashy blond cat ears were perked attentively on her head. "Maka, just sit still and watch the movie with me, will you?"

Maka growled low in her throat.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Soul snapped. He was sure he hadn't been _this _difficult when he had been cursed into a dog – although, he conceded, dogs were usually easier to deal with than self-sufficient cats.

Whatever had caught her attention disappeared and she finally turned to him.

She had pretty eyes when she was normal but now her eyes reflected a different glow, almost smokey; deeper and richer, too, when the light hit it. Her cheekbones had been enhanced, almost sharp, and there was an elegance to each of her movements, no matter how abrupt they were.

Her eyes locked on something on his face and before he had a chance to question her sudden fixation on his _nose_, she adjusted herself on his lap and leaned in curiously.

"What're you doing?" He flinched when her nose touched his experimentally. "Hey, quit it, that feels funny!" He cracked a smile when she sneezed, shaking her head out. His arms wrapped around her waist, pressing her close to him, and she happily leaned into him, stroking the soft end of her tail on his shoulder.

The soft purr that came from her throat took some getting used to; especially the small, pleased, noises she made when she was happy. She was just like a cat... only human, female, and terribly oversized.

"Huh, I wonder..." He rose his hand to scratch between her ears experimentally, as he usually did to Blair when she was a small cat, and grinned when her purring grew louder. Her fluffy tail flicked back and forth, expressing her contentment, and Soul, despite the fact that he adored his meister when she was normal, wished she would stay in this form for a few days.

He bet she wouldn't beat him with a book in _this _form, although she might scratch his face off if she felt like it...

He would take his chances.

"Soul, Soul!" Maka chanted, curling her tail around his hand when he touched it. "Soul!"

"You're so cute." Soul crooned, scratching her head a little more vigorously. "Damn. You're making me sound so uncool right now." Maka laid on her back on the couch, her head pillowed on his lap, and took his hand in hers without paying heed to what he was saying.

She played with his hand for a while, as he distracted himself with the television.

He would never admit it – never in a million years, even if you gagged him and threatened to cut him up with his own blade – but Blair was _useful_ sometimes.

Even though she was dead when Maka returned back to normal in the morning and he would most likely receive verbal abuse for doing nothing more than smothering her. Because he had a small, _tiny_, weakness for small animals – which was probably why he kept Blair, although he didn't appreciate being smothered in her bosom when she was human.

However, Maka _wasn't _a small animal: she was just part-cat and suffocating on the magic from Blair's spell (which, if he remembered from his own experience, felt like you were high on some sort of drug).

But the fact that she was part cat meant she was _impersonating_ a small animal, and that was all the information Soul needed.

"Soul..." Maka whined, pawing his shirt for attention. "_Soul!_"

"What?" He tore his attention from the television screen to her eyes. He could faintly see the slit of her iris and he wondered if it would also dilate like a cats...

"Soul..." She nuzzled her head into his palm, unable to convey what she wanted in any other way. The only thing she seemed to be able to say was his name... not that he minded.

He wondered how long it would take for her to regain higher functions, like he had.

Blair had laughed something about perfecting her transformation spell right after she cast it on Maka... who knew how long the spell would last now? He halfheartedly hoped it wouldn't last too long.

"You want me to scratch your head?" Soul asked, scratching behind the ear this time. She purred contently, her eyes drowsily shutting. "Cute." He dryly commented, when she yawned to reveal small fangs in place of where her regular teeth would have been.

"Looks like you're having fun with Maka there, _Soul-kun_." Blair's sly voice came from behind him. He quickly stopped scratching her head, making her frown. "You know, Blair can keep her like this if you want!"

"Don't," Soul began, dangerously, "even _think _about it, Blair! If you change her back now, maybe she'll let you visit sometime."

"Mouu, how mean! Maka wouldn't kick a cute kitty-cat like me out!" Blair pouted, batting her eyes with an impish grin.

Soul snorted. "You're right – she'll run you out of Death City... or take two of your lives. Maybe three, if I help."

"Blair will not turn her back." Blair stubbornly said. "Soul-kun looks so happy when she's like this! Why would I take away your fun? That would be cruel." Blair's hands slid down his chest from behind seductively. "But, Soul-kun, Blair can be _much_ more fun—_ouch!_" Blair jerked back, blinking at Maka's hiss. Her tail flicked back and forth with an air of menace, her sharp emerald eyes watching Blair viciously.

"As much as I'd _love _to keep Maka like this," Soul sarcastically began, wary on Maka's claws. "I like her way better when she's human." Maka sat on his lap again, tilting her head to the side curiously at his soft smile. "At least when she's human, she can cook something for me..." And he wanted her to _understand_ his devotion to her, not simply go along with his actions because they felt good.

He understood that she wasn't herself because he had been like that, too, last year.

The impulsive reactions to everything was something that still disturbed him; how he had just followed his instinct and nothing more. Following that type of thought process was primitive, and not to mention troublesome. He still remembered how he'd pounced on Maka and nearly cracked her skull open from the force... not one of his coolest moments, he'd admit.

"Humph." Blair pouted, rubbing the scratch wound on her hand. "She's still a violent little thing!"

"Yeah..." Soul caressed a perked ear, smiling when she nuzzled into it. "Not to me, though." He sounded smug.

"But Blair's magic is _very_ special this time, Soul-kun! I fixed it with a new spellbook Blair found in her dresser!"

"Don't you mean _my _dresser?" Blair basically kept her clothes in there, shoveling out all of _his_ clothing. If it weren't for Maka, who folded and arranged the clothes in his trunk, his room would be a mess of jackets, jeans, and t-shirts...

Blair just giggled excitedly, watching Maka's eyes glaze over with every scratch on her head. The more he showered her with affection, the more heated Maka became. It was silly of Soul to assume that was all to her magic; especially when she had had a whole year to perfect it using other willing people and her spellbook. "Every magic has its own quirk, and my magic happens to have _seduction _laced through it!" She sighed, dreamily.

"Seduction? Yeah, right!" Soul laughed. How ridiculous. The words 'seduction' and 'Maka' should never even be _said_ in the same sentence! "Maka is about as seductive as Black Star is when he's wasted!" He snickered. And _that _wasn't seductive _at all._

"Are you _sure?_" Blair purred, mischievously.

Soul frowned. "Of course I'm sure—!"

"Nya~! Soul!" Maka exclaimed. Her lips crashed on his and Soul froze as Maka forced his mouth open to slide her tongue inside. The purring in her throat was magnified two-fold, reverberating in his chest, and he could feel her nails gently scrape his neck as she brought his head closer to her.

He could almost _see _that damned book slam down on his skull; the stars that accompanied it, as well as the white-hot pain.

She was _not_ going to be happy about this, no matter how much he didn't mind – that much was evident to Soul in those short, blissful, seconds.

"M-Maka! Get off!" He choked against her lips. This was bad. It had gone from PG to R before he could even blink. He could pretended he had never petted her when she returned to normal but could he _really _pretend they'd never kissed? Maka would slaughter him if he did! And _then_ he'd castrate himself for not stopping _and_ having the audacity to pretend it never happened...

He would have to... _explain_ himself in the morning if he did that and she asked.

And words had never been on his side.

He reluctantly tuned away, gasping: "Maka, stop it—!"

Blair muffled her laughter when Maka forced him still. "Oh, my! Blair didn't know she would get like this so quickly!" Blair chimed. "Maybe Blair shouldn't have added that extra incantation..." She mulled to herself, then shrugged it off and continued to watch Soul's desperate struggle to disentangle himself from his meister.

Blair wondered how Soul would handle Maka in the morning.

He'd have to _explain _himself if he pretended nothing happened...

And she'd watch from the safety of the window when that happened; it was bound to be a riot!

"Have fun with Maka_, Soul-kun!_" Blair blew him a kiss as she transformed into a cat, leaping onto the windowsill. "Blair is going to work and will be back tomorrow! Bye, bye~!"

"_No!_ Blair, you bitch, get back here—!" Soul groaned when Maka turned his head back to her and pressed her lips against his own passionately. "Damn it!" This was going too far. He wouldn't be able to hold back with her making such sweet noises. "Maka, this is wrong—_stop_!" He shoved her back, feeling automatically guilty at her crestfallen face.

Her ears flattened on her head and her tail abruptly stopped swaying, dropping down limply.

_Crap._

"No, you're—I didn't mean it like that!" Soul awkwardly amended, her wide and watery green eyes making his heart weigh. He supposed rejection still didn't feel very pleasant, even if she was part cat. "You're just... it's just Blair's magic that's making you like this." He rubbed the back of his neck, not knowing what else to do. "You can do that when you're back to being Maka, not now."

She ducked and rested her cheek on his shoulder, ears still flat on her head. Her tail still didn't sway.

Soul scratched behind her ears again, gingerly. "...when you're back to being Maka, we could do that all the time." He cringed at his own words. So uncool – he was relieved Black Star wasn't here to hear that. He'd die laughing if he had. "But not now because you'd knock me out with a book when you returned back to normal, and that's not cool. Okay?"

Maka mewed, her eyes shutting once the excitement drained.

"Cool." He breathed out a sigh of relief. "Tomorrow you'll be back to normal and you can beat the shit out of Blair with that new book your dumb dad bought you."

That seemed to perk her up. She snuggled into his shoulder and soon, due to the fading magic in her body, slumped forward in unconsciousness.

He licked his lips, dropping his head on her shoulder in defeat and impatience.

He never wished it was morning more than he did there.

He glanced at the clock.

Only fifteen more hours to go.

* * *

"Ow..." Maka groaned, her hand coming up to hold her throbbing head. It was pounding, like how she usually awoke when she had been knocked unconscious during battle. "My head..." Her hand slipped on something hard when she tried to sit up and she grappled for the edge of the couch, lifting herself up firmly this time.

She was surprised to find Soul asleep below her, snoring with a trickle of drool running down his chin.

"Soul?" She whispered, in confusion. Then it all came back to her. Her joking comment, the sudden crash of colorful lights, the whirling euphoria that swept her away before she crashed on his chest and slipped into a magically induced sleep...

Her face flushed when she remembered what she had _done_, so unlike herself, how much she had _wanted_ to drag her nails down his chest and tear his shirt off. The unusual freedom of doing what she desired to _do_, whenever she wanted, was bewildering. There had been an unnatural amount of want that welled in the pit of her stomach, too; almost infectious, as she had caught that same shade of lust in Soul's eyes before he pushed her away.

She was glad he hadn't let her have her away: she would have pounded his head in with a book if he had!

At the thought, her eyes darted to his lips.

She remembered how they felt – soft, hot against her own – and she remembered how she had desired for his teeth to sink into her lip, how she'd wanted to swipe her tongue against them to test if they were as sharp as they appeared to be.

Some of that same strong desire began to build in her stomach again, but she didn't go for his lips – not immediately, anyway. She hovered, as his breathing began to change, and she didn't move her hooded gaze even when his eyes sprung open.

"Maka?" He croaked, voice thick with sleep. He blinked, several times, but she didn't move, addicted to feeling his skin against her own. His hand gripped her arm, to move her away, she thought, but it only added to the fire boiling her blood. "What the hell are you doing?" He wiped away the drool on his chin, grimacing. Not cool.

"Nothing..." She answered, truthfully. She really wasn't doing anything, per say. She swallowed when he frowned. The action was enticing; she wanted to kiss him again.

"You can talk." Soul observed, aware of how she still didn't remove her eyes from his mouth, even when he nudged her. "Does that mean you're back to..." His eyes strayed to the top of her head, the set of ears the perked on either side. "...never mind. At least you can talk now. That's better than nothing."

"Yeah..." Maka distantly replied, struggling to contain her savage lust. She cursed Blair to the deepest pits of hell – that cat had tampered with her spell! Soul had certainly never tried something like _this_ on her, at least not when his higher functions had been temporarily out of bounce, and she _did _remember the cat cackling something about making a few 'adjustments' to her spell...

Where was that cat, anyway?

Maka was tempted to look at the window but then he spoke again, snatching her attention again.

"...Are you gonna' move any time soon?" Soul asked, slowly. She noticed his gaze kept straying to her lips, too. The corner of her mouth twitched at that – maybe she _would_ be able to satisfy some of the heat that was bordering on painful. "I need to take a piss... now."

The words were enough to snap her out of her daze and she quickly lifted herself off of him, quelling the embers that burned within her immediately. "S-sorry..." Maka mumbled, rubbing her eyes out to hide her red cheeks. "I was just—my leg fell asleep." She lamely lied.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," was all he said. She was annoyed to hear amusement in his tone, as he padded to the bathroom to relieve himself.

Maka sank back in the couch, her hands pressed against her mouth furiously.

The pangs of longing were difficult to ignore.

_Damn you, Blair! Just wait until I see you... _Maka slid off the couch. Her footsteps made no noise as she walked to the window, where she threw it open. The fresh gust of air, taking away the suffocating press of lust that had swamped her body, was welcomed, as were the warm rays of the sun.

A delicious scent wafted to her, something that made her mouth water like her partner whenever she placed food in front of him...

"Fish." Maka realized, her knee already up on the sill. She leaned out of the window dangerously, inhaling the angelic scent that drifted from down the block. Fried fish. Her tail flicked behind her excitedly, and just as Maka had been on the verge of hopping out of the window, hands grabbed her hips and pulled her away.

She hissed.

"Don't lean out the window like that, Maka, you'll fall!" Soul scolded, closing the window, to her great horror.

"But—but—!" Maka sputtered, trying to disentangle herself from him. "Why did you close it?"

"Because you were about to fall out?"

"Someone's frying fish close by and I'm hungry..." Maka groaned, looking out the window pitifully. "I would've landed on my feet anyway..."

"Highly doubt that." Soul deadpanned, adding: "I thought you hated fish?"

"I do! Well, not right now, but—shut up, Soul!" Maka glared when he laughed. Her tail slapped his stomach as she walked away from him, disappearing into the kitchen before he could blink.

"Maka?" Soul said, following her. "What are you doing?"

"I told you already, didn't I? I'm hungry." Maka restated, digging in the refrigerator for anything good. She gasped, taking out a bottle of crème. "I was supposed to give this to Blair yesterday!" She exclaimed, although she was already popping open the top. A delighted smile climbed on her face, illuminating her emerald eyes devilishly. Soul tried hard not to stare. "It's a good thing I didn't!"

She downed the bottle. Soul watched her throat, each swallow, and wondered how she could make something as simple as _swallowing_ appear so seductive. Was it just a natural charm all felines had? Or was it Blair's spell influencing her actions...?

She licked her lips, a motion Soul's eyes followed faithfully.

His throat tightened when she licked the mouth of the bottle, tipping it over her lips again in hopes of a few more drops of the milk.

"Do we have any more?" Maka asked, placing the bottle back inside. Soul rolled his eyes, successfully snapped of his fixation.

"Idiot – don't just put it back!" Soul stepped forward, taking the empty bottle out. He was aware of her interested eyes on his face, specifically his mouth, as he placed the bottle on the dining room table to dispose of properly later. "What?" He mumbled irately, self-conscious with her stare. "Do I have something on my face?"

She brushed a strand of his unruly hair from his eyes in reply. He didn't move: he watched with veiled interest as she stepped closer and her fingers pushed his hair back again. Her eyes were fixed on the way his hair always fell back down his eyes...

He sucked in a sharp breath when she dragged her fingers through his hair, marveling the silk strands between her fingers.

"What's up with you?" Soul muttered, albeit with no conviction. "I thought you were back to normal..."

Maka added her other hand, tensing when his chest pressed against her own. She felt his hands rest on her hips, as if to anchor her in place, but Maka wouldn't have moved either way. The lustful pull inside of her had lessened the longer she was awake, until it only served as an incentive to spark the longing she had repressed for him.

"I _am_ back to normal..." Maka said, stroking her fingers though his hair. "At least, I-I _think_ I am..." She added, unsurely. Her hands stopped. This certainly wasn't something she'd do if she were in the right state of mind.

Maybe she needed a few more hours to get her head back, Maka nervously thought.

She felt a hand trail up the curve of her spin tantalizingly, his fingers touching the perked ears on her head. "You've still got ears and a tail." Soul observed. "But you're Maka...right?" The way he said it was hopeful.

"Yeah." Maka affirmed. She recalled him saying that before, after she basically pounced him. Then he said... her cheeks flushed, and she dropped her eyes timidly. "I'm myself again." She dropped her hands from his hair hastily.

"Are you sure?" Soul asked anyways, tapping a finger on her hip contemplatively. "The Maka _I_ know wouldn't do something like this... she'd be too chicken to try." He grinned at the scorn that crossed her face.

"I would not!" She yelled. "Just because I haven't done this before doesn't mean I wouldn't do it, Soul!"

"Oh,_ really?_" He said, skeptically.

"_Yes_, really!"

"Then what changed?" Soul challenged, startling her. She tensed back when he leaned closer. Suddenly, she didn't want him to be so close. The magic that had allowed her to react to his advances had declined too low for her to use. She felt like the usual Maka; the one who shied away from such advances, the one who couldn't stand to look into his sensual gaze because it made her embarrassed and _inexperienced_. "And don't say you're under Blair's magic because you seem pretty sober to me."

"Sober? I'm not drunk, Soul, I've been cursed...and, for the record, I've _never_ been drunk before!"

"Sucks for you – it doesn't feel half bad." Soul teased, with a grin at the disapproving press of her lips.

"I don't want to know what you and Black Star do when you're alone." Maka crisply said.

"Just sayin'." Soul shrugged. "Although playing video games while you're wasted isn't fun...since you keep dying 'cause you can't hold the controller right."

"That's why you're so stupid." Maka said flatly, flicking his forehead. Her eyes softened at his slight scowl, and the overwhelming lust vanished as if it had never been there before. Her head felt clear, far clearer than a few minutes ago, and Maka wordlessly lowered her head in relief.

She felt in control again.

She wouldn't do something stupid, again – not like yesterday, letting her lust get a hold of her so appallingly.

"Well, since you're back to normal... guess the fun's over." He shot her a leering grin, which she removed with a sharp jab to his ribs. "I was kidding! Learn to take a _joke_, Maka!"

"That wasn't funny in the first place, you perv!" She was startled when Soul led her back to the couch, pulling her beside him as if it were the most natural thing to do. He did that a lot – when school was out and she was not studying or completing homework. She had long since stopped questioning _why_ he liked being so close to her, dismissing it as nothing because _nothing_ ever came out of it, but it felt...different, now.

There was a gentleness to his touch, a softness to his smile, that she could not mark off as a trick of the light.

She found she didn't mind anyway, being held in his arms, because it always made her chest warm and light. Because she liked him, _a lot_, and with the way he kept stroking his thumb across her arm, utterly lax and comfortable with her resting against him, it was giving her the impression that maybe he liked her, _too_...

But that was impossible. She knew this.

"Well, whatever." Soul yawned. "You're more of a pain when you're a cat than when you're normal."

And sometimes he was just a _jerk_ who she was _sure_ didn't deserve her utmost admiration...

"You weren't so easy to handle, either! You nearly knocked me out when you jumped on me!" Maka hotly said, smug when he cringed.

"Yeah, that wasn't cool, I _know_... how many times do I have to apologize for that?"

"It's fine." Maka sighed. "You didn't know any better then."

Soul turned on the TV to drown out the silence that had settled between them. After a moment, her ears twitching on her head as she experimented this new sensitive hearing, Soul commented: "You know – cat ears really compliment you. They make you look cute." He grinned at her flushed face.

"Wh-when are these things going to go away? They went away the next day when Blair cursed _you__!_" Maka stammered, desperate to change the subject. Compliments usually made her giddy but compliments from _him_ made her clumsy with nerves, and the last thing she needed was to do or say something _uncool_. "They're annoying!"

"They're cute." Soul flatly pointed out.

"They're—!" Maka pressed her lips together at his smug look. "They're inconvenient." Maka finally said.

He rolled his eyes. "How? They're pretty handy for _hearing_ things."

"_I_ don't want to know what the neighbors are doing!" A slow grin began to grow on his face, and Maka hastily amended: "Mrs. Harbor is yelling at her son again! He broke a glass or something." Maka's ears flattened. "And now he's crying..."

"And here I thought you were listening in on something _interesting._" Soul cackled at her glower.

"Shut up! This isn't funny!" She snapped, but his laughter only became snickers. "It's painful!" Maka slapped her hands over her fluffy ears. "His crying is really pitched, I never noticed before..."

"That's because," Soul sniggered, pressing his own hands over her ears, "you weren't half-cat before."

Maka didn't move, her hands still on her ears long after the little boy next door stopped crying. She liked the feeling of his hands over her own. She liked the feeling of his hands in general.

"Hey, Soul..."

"What?"

Maka swallowed. She didn't know how to get the words out. They choked in her throat, rendering her speechless. She didn't want to humiliate herself by asking something dumb – especially if there was nothing special in his careful, almost tender, movements...

"What is it?" Soul asked, in a considerably softer tone. She didn't look at him, preferring to bite her lip thoughtfully, but he had a feeling she was going to bring up the dreaded topic. "Maka...?"

"How come..." She began, then swallowed her cowardice and outright asked: "How come you always _hug_ me?"

Not exactly what he was waiting for, but close enough. "You're _really_ asking me that?"

Maka flushed, feeling embarrassment color her face. "I-I just can't understand why you would, that's all, so I'm asking..." She left off at a miserable mumble.

"Because I want to." Soul replied, simply.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Yes, it does." Soul contradicted. His sharp gaze went unnoticed by her, as she grumbled about his vague answers. "Unless that isn't what you meant."

"What do you mean?" Maka asked, hesitantly.

"Isn't there something _else_ you'd like to ask me?" Soul asked, hopeful. He might as well get it over with – beating around the bush wasn't cool. Nor was being kept in sick dread for her answer, either.

Maka pondered over this. There were a lot of things she'd like to ask him: why he didn't play the piano for her or their friends (even though they'd heard it before and enjoyed it), why he didn't open up to her when he was troubled, why he wanted to hug her, why he always got so aggressive when guys spoke to her, _why _their friends always smiled secretively at her whenever Soul said or did something strange...

Instead, she said: "Not that I can think of," and pushed herself off his lap. It was strange and rather stupid to think Soul would _like_ her, considering just how much he patronized her chest size and her dull appearance. She wasn't his type. She got it the first ten times he said it. "Nothing that I don't know." She stated with a tone of dull finality.

She missed the shock that crossed his face as she stood up.

His hand caught her wrist, tightly. "You know, leaving me without an answer is _definitely_ _uncool_." He forced, through his teeth. "It's the least you can _do_, since you know and all."

The bitterness in his tone surprised her. She asked, without thinking: "What answer?" Then added: "What do you mean?" She turned to him, watching his confusion slowly melt into realization. Her confusion didn't waver. "Soul, what are you talking about?"

He stared, calculatingly. "What _do _you know?" He finally asked.

"Huh?"

"You said it was nothing you didn't know, so... what do you know?"

"About what?" Maka frowned. "Soul, if you're talking about the question you asked me before, there are _a lot_ of things I'd like to ask you. And a lot of those things are questions you will _never_ answer, because I've tried before." She shook his hand off. "So, why bother? You'll just get mad, make me mad, and then we'll both be mad! I'm already angry enough at Blair... "

Soul frowned. She sounded pretty sure of herself. "Alright then, ask me one of those questions!" Soul defied coolly. "I'll answer it right now." He leaned back, spreading his arms over the top of the couch in his typical 'cool guy' pose.

Maka narrowed her eyes at his challenge. "... How come you don't like playing the piano for me?" She relished the unease that crossed his face. After a few seconds, she said, with bitter triumph: "See? Told you so," and continued on her way to her bedroom to change out of her sweatpants and tank top, when his voice stopped her.

"It's embarrassing."

Maka faced him again. He was looking out the window passively. "How... how is it _embarrassing?_ You're really talented at playing the piano – Liz, Kid, Patty, Black Star – all of our friends think so!"

"It's still embarrassing." Soul quietly said. "Especially when you're used to people cringing away whenever you play." He added, bitterly.

Maka sat back down beside him, not liking the darkness that filled his tone. "Just because those people didn't like it doesn't mean everyone else does, too." Maka softly said, taking his hand and easing away the fist. "I like it when you play – it makes me happy." She confessed, not looking at him. But she could feel his surprise. "I might not get it, but... it still makes me happy, so it doesn't matter to me if I get it or not! As long as I hear it, I..." _feel so much closer to you, _she added, mentally. _Like I'm not drifting away from you. _

Soul tangled their fingers together, surprising her. "Ask me another question." He said, avoiding her eyes by looking at their hands. "You said you had a lot of them."

Maka bit her lip. He seemed... open enough right now, for some reason. "How come Black Star always calls me clueless whenever we're hanging out?" Maka recalled every moment the 'great' star grinned and proceeded to call her 'clueless' or 'blind' or 'flat-chested'—although, Soul called her that, too, and she Maka Chopped him just as she Maka Chopped Black Star. She didn't discriminate. "Just _what _am I missing? He always looks at you when he says it—it pisses me off! Are you hiding something from me again?" Maka ranted. Soul grinned. "Did I miss something or are you guys just being jerks? Even _Tsubaki_ doesn't want to tell me! _What am I missing?_" Maka shook in rage, unable to take not _knowing _something. "Soul, you better tell me before I hurt you."

Sometimes, Soul was glad for her compulsive _need _to know things.

"Soul Eater—!"

"I can't believe you're asking me that, too." Soul sniggered when she looked up furiously. "You know, we've been partners for around four years." He mused. "You'd think you'd _know_, since we basically live together and all."

"_Know_ what?" Maka hissed. Soul swore her tail was spunky with rage, too.

"Know..." Soul began, then, for the hell of it, dramatically said: "_Well_, if you can't see it then maybe I shouldn't tell you..." He kind of regretted it, because the look in her eyes spoke of murder.

"You said you'd answer my questions!" Maka accused.

"Never promised I _would!_"

"SOUL!" Maka's claws sprung from her fingers and she hooked them on his shirt, bringing him down to her level. She hissed, showing him sharp and glinting fangs; no longer the neat, straight, rows of teeth he'd grown used to seeing everyday. "You better tell me. I don't have a book on me... but I still have _these _for a couple more hours." She threatened, showing him her sharp nails.

Despite the situation, Soul was able to smirk easily. It baffled her – maybe he just wasn't used to being threatened with claws? Maka was sure claws were more scary than books.

"The _reason_ they call you clueless," Soul began, bracing her hand back to avoid having her nails dig into his skin, "and Black Star laughs at you, is because..." He hesitated, but the eagerness in her eyes encouraged him "... I _sort of..." _She bit her lip, earnest to know. "Like you." He ended flatly, watching her expression crumble to confusion.

"What?" She whispered, wide eyed.

"I like you." Soul repeated. It was easier to say a second time. "That's why."

"I-I like you, too..." Maka replied, unsurely. There was a shock, an overwhelming relief, that flashed past his eyes until she said: "You're my partner, Soul, practically my best friend, so I don't understand...?"

Soul deflated. She was so dense sometimes. "I meant, I _like _you!"

She stared.

"Not like my meister! Like a _girl_!" He stressed, watching realization light her eyes.

"_Oh_..." Maka stared. She was befuddled. She had played, more often than she'd like to admit, with the idea of becoming more to her weapon than a meister but it seemed unlikely whenever she counted in the facts: the jokes made of her chest size, of her pigtails, of her childish face, of her _body _in general; of her attitude, of her quirks, of her habits, of her violent tendencies.

She wasn't his type.

She'd never be; he'd made it clear.

Her eyes darkened. She tore her claws from his shirt, ignoring the flash of surprise on his face. "That wasn't funny, Soul." Maka said, darkly. "Don't say things you don't mean – especially things like _that_." She slid off the couch, throat tight. She turned away from him to hide her hurt. "It's cruel."

"Wait a second!" This _definitely_ wasn't how he thought it would go down. "What're you talking about? I wasn't lying!"

"Yes, you were!" Maka shouted, her claws sinking into her palm. She felt a little sick. "You know I hate liars, Soul..." Maka's voice dropped to a quivering whisper.

Soul scrambled up, his heart sinking at her hurt whisper. He didn't know what was going on through that brilliant mind of hers, but it wasn't anything good. "Maka, I'm not lying!" Soul insisted. "I _like _you – is that so hard to believe?"

"_Yes_!" Maka shouted, startling him. "Because you've made it clear to _everyone_ how you could never like _me_!" That sinking feeling in his stomach grew worse, because he technically had. How many times had he denied it in public? "Because I'm _dull_ and _boring_ and I'm a _flat-chested, violent, bookworm_!" Maka cried, holding back tears. It hurt to say it out loud. "And now you're telling me _you_ _like _me?" She shook her head. It was getting harder to breathe. "Don't make me laugh, Soul, you're just being an ass again. And this time you took it too far. What is this? A bet from Black Star you lost?"

"Maka, hold up, I didn't mean any of that!" Soul was hot on her trail when she stormed to her room, intent on locking the door and soaking her pillow with tears for a few hours. "Maka, that's not—!"

"Don't say it's not true because you _know_ it's not!"

"Look, I know I said those things, big deal, I didn't—!"

"BIG DEAL?" Maka bellowed, swiveling on her heel. The hurt on her face made him feel sick—maybe he shouldn't have put it quite like that. "You don't even _care_ that you've said those things to me? What, did you think it was _funny_?" Maka shouted, far too furious to stop. She needed a book to beat him up; fast. "Did you think it was funny to basically _put me down in front of everyone? _Do you honestly think it doesn't _hurt _me? I _know_ I'm not pretty, I _know _I can get boring sometimes, Soul, I _know _I'm violent – it's just _humiliating _when you say it out loud and then _laugh _about it!" She was crying now; hot, thick, tears ran down her cheeks. Her ears were flat on her head, claws bloodying up her palm from breaking the skin. "Just because I'm not as pretty as Blair or Patty doesn't mean you have to rub it in my face all the time—!"

She tried to push him away, the last place she wanted to be was wrapped in his arms, but his grip was strong, and the closed bedroom door behind her only caged her in place. The tears she willed away only ran faster down her cheeks and the hurt from saying all of those faults out loud, all those insecurities she'd never dared to breathe a word to anyone, was tearing her up inside.

"That's not true." Soul whispered, holding her tightly. It was a bit of a challenge – she wasn't weak, far from it. "Maka, listen to me: I didn't mean any of those things. I haven't for a long time."

"But that doesn't mean you _did_." She insisted.

"Maka, I was thirteen and thought jumping off a _roof_ with my motorcycle was _cool_." Soul dryly said, making a strangled scoff rise out of her throat before her tears snuffed that humor. That short huff gave him hope he could fix the situation, however. "Maka, just listen to me! I just need five minutes!"

"You have two!" Maka snapped nastily.

Two would be more than enough. "When we were thirteen...after we fought Blair and I took her soul... what did I tell you? Do you remember?"

"You..." Maka stopped struggling, trying to recall his words. "You told me... th-that it's not the shape of the body that matters, it's the soul that matters."

"Right...because I didn't partner up with you for your body, Maka, I partnered up with you for _you_." Soul sincerely said. "I couldn't care less how you looked like. I thought you understood what I meant that time. I guess you didn't."

"But..." Maka continued, helplessly. "You—you kept saying all of those things – in fact, you called me a bookworm just yesterday!"

"You _are_ a bookworm." Soul smiled at her indignant gasp. "But you _aren't_ boring. And, hate to sound like your dad, but... you haven't _exactly_ been flat-chested and dull since you hit fourteen." She went still in his arms. Soul swallowed, suddenly nervous. "_And_ I just say I wanna' be with some big titted girl 'cause it was a stupid and cool thing to say at the time. I don't mean it – Black Star does, though." He added weakly. He brought her closer. "I just want to be with you..." His jaw was taut, tight, mouth unwilling to continue. It was difficult to continue; to expose his feelings like this. But he had to make her believe him, somehow. "I've _always_ wanted to be with you." _She_ had been the only one to listen to his recital to the end and not cringe away – quite the opposite, she smiled brightly and introduced herself.

She was different; she was _Maka._

She was his meister, and he... loved his meister.

He breathed out in relief when her arms wrapped around him, returning his impromptu embrace.

"Do you... really mean that?"

"Yeah, I do. I wasn't lying, Maka. I wouldn't lie about this."

Her arms tightened around him. "... I believe you."

His smile was soft. "Sorry I was such an ass before." He muttered, glumly. "I won't say those things to you anymore. I didn't know they hurt you this much."

He felt her nod against his chest.

"... Don't say that word again."

"What word?"

"You _know_ what word!" Maka groaned.

Soul suddenly smirked. Oh, yeah, he _knew_ what word. But he still used it: for the sole reason that it made her all squeamish. "Tits?"

"_Soul!_" Maka cringed. That word sounded terribly dirty.

He chuckled at her embarrassment. "You're so cute." He felt more comfortable now that he had evaded serious damage to their relationship.

Maka was starting to believe her cheeks would never go back to normal. Her most basic senses were alert on every little thing he did – his smell was amplified, the sound of his breathing loud in her ears, his skin hot as it brushed against a strip of bare skin on her shoulder.

"Hey..." Soul said, lifting his face away from her. "Your ears are gone."

"They are?" Maka reached up to pat her head, finding that they were, indeed, gone. "Then that means—!" Maka pulled away from him, straining to look behind her to see if she still had a tail. Her cheeks pinked. "What? It's not gone yet!" Maka groaned. "Oh, great, this is embarrassing!"

"What is?" Soul looked for himself, amused when he saw the fluffy, tawny, tail still there. "The tail is the last thing that goes away." He reassured, remembering his own experience. "At least you don't have the urge to _chase_ it."

Maka giggled, and Soul felt all previous gloom wash away at the sight of her smile. But the sight of her lips brought back pleasant memories, and he grinned with mischief. She hadn't necessarily accepted his confession but... she hadn't rejected it, either.

Limbo, he decided, wasn't so bad if you knew how to maneuver through it.

"So," he drawled, "since I basically cleared everything up, and you're not pissed anymore, care to continue from where we left off last time?" He smirked at her confusion. It was until he was dangerously close, that haughty smirk still plastered on his face, that she understood, and her cooling face heated up twice-fold.

"W-who said I still wasn't mad at you?" She was cornered against the door. She didn't mind this time.

"You're not moving away."

"I can't."

"You can," he said, letting his arm drop to his side. There was the exit; all she had to do was move to the side and leave. "Well?"

Breathing hard, she realized she wouldn't have moved even if she wanted to. She felt bolted to the floor by his smoldering stare.

"I'm still mad at you..."

"That's cool..."

And when he pressed his lips against hers, something sparked inside of her, reminiscent to the heat she had felt earlier that morning.

It was a suffocating, painful, type of heat, that coiled in her abdomen and made her skin itch to feel his own. Heart echoing in her ears, blood running rampant through her veins, she moaned when she felt his teeth sink into her lip like she had ached for hours ago. Her hands tangled in his messy hair, the last traces of magical influence in her body sparking at the sudden stimulus from his mouth.

High on a sudden, final, crash of magic, Maka drove him against the wall opposite to her bedroom door, one hand dragging down his shirt while the other pulled his hair back needfully. She wanted to tear off his shirt again. She faintly noticed her hands no longer bore claws before she became aware of the hands that groped her ass, a faint groan making it past the pounding she heard in her ears.

Despite the thrill that had shot down her spine, she had been on the verge of telling him to get his hand _off_ her when a low, impressed, whistle came from down the hall.

Maka felt the color drain from her face at the familiar, booming, laughter that followed.

"Holy crap, _now_ I know why Soul likes to hang out with you so much! Soul, you dog, you've been getting some all along, huh?" Black Star's grin was palpable in his words. "How long has this been goin' on? I thought you weren't gonna' tell her until Christmas! Did you dare lie to your god, Soul?" He demanded, in mock-authority.

"Black Star!" Maka gaped in horror. Soul still looked a little dazed. "What are—_how_ did you get in here?" She was sure she'd hear the door if _he _was the one going through it.

"Window." He innocently answered.

Maka groaned, ducking her head to hide her embarrassment. "Why don't you use the door like _normal _people do?"

"'Cause the last time I used your door, you hit me on the head with a goddamn book!"

"Because you _broke _it off the hinges!"

"It's not _my_ fault I don't know my own strength!"

"Black Star, what do you want?" Soul interrupted, annoyed.

"I _was_ gonna_'_ invite you to play some video games and chill at Kid's house but since you're _busy_..." Black Star snickered at Maka's silent embarrassment. At least Soul had dropped his hands from her butt when he realized who it was. "You better be there in two hours, man – we got beer_ and_ chips!"

"Yeah, 'cause I don't have beer and chips _here_." He sarcastically replied.

"We _don't._" Maka stated. She narrowed her eyes at Soul's uneasy grin. "Soul, don't tell me you—!"

"But _we_ have better beer – and chips! The good kind. So, you better hurry up and tap that already, or else I'll come back and pick you up!" He laughed at the dark look he shot him. "And I don't wanna' see your bare ass—!"

"Shut._ Up_." Soul ground through his teeth, as his comrade laughed.

"Tap that—what does that even_ mean?_" Maka questioned, looking distinctly repulsed by the term. She'd heard it come out of Black Star and her papa's mouths before but she never really understood what it meant. "Black—!"

"It just means hanging out with someone." Soul interrupted, slapping a hand over her mouth. "For a _while_."

Maka blinked owlishly.

Black Star leered. "For a long, long time – or _short_, since it's Soul—!"

"Fuck you, Black Star!" Soul snapped.

"Not if you're already doing_ her_!" Black Star winked audaciously, causing Soul to blanch. Maka appeared torn between being furious at what Black Star said and annoyed that Soul wasn't denying anything. Or doing much, for the matter.

"Dude, that was wrong on _so_ many levels."

"Hey! I can't help it if guys _and _girls want me." He smirked. "Of course they'd want me – they can't help but feel attracted to me, those poor souls. My _sexiness_ is out of this world—no, _universe!_" He flexed his arm, hardened muscle contracting underneath smooth skin.

Soul snorted, highly doubting his claims.

"Black Star, don't you _dare_ say a word to them!" Maka threatened after she got Soul's hand off her mouth, knowing that Tsubaki, Liz and Patty were at Gallows Mansion, too, and would be blown away by the sudden news. And then she would be swamped with questions—questions that she did _not_ want to answer.

Personal questions – because that's what Liz and Patty did: invade her privacy like a bunch of giggly, hormonal, high school girls. And Tsubaki wasn't so innocent herself...

"Why not?" Black Star taunted, wickedly. "Can't stand the fact that _you _totally went crazy on Soul? It's alright – although you could do better, like _me_ for example, but I don't go for flat girls so I'm sure Soul will—WAH!" Black Star stared wide-eyed at the pencil that narrowly missed his head.

"I don't just carry books around, you know." Maka hissed, reaching into her sweats again. "The pens work better—GET BACK HERE!" Maka screeched, running after the ninja who had darted for the window when he saw the chance.

"NEVER! AND I'M TELLING _EVERYONE!_" Black Star cackled, leaping out the window. "LIZ IS GONNA' FREAK—OWWW!" He howled in pain at the pen that managed to stab into his thigh. "I'M _STILL_ TELLING!"

"Black Star! Just wait until I see you later!" Maka slumped over the sill, glowering at the figure that disappeared in the distance. His laughter ghosted through their home, making her shiver. "That idiot is going to ruin everything..." She bemoaned. She could _just_ see the lewd grins from Liz and Patty, the sly but coy look from Tsubaki, once Black Star finished his tale. "And why didn't you _do _anything?" She snapped at Soul, who looked no less perturbed than usual by the chain of events. "You could have helped me stop him, you know! Some help you were! All you did was stand there like an idiot!"

"_Chillax_, Maka." Soul eased, placing his hands on either shoulder. They were tense, muscles coiled and ready to launch, so he gave them a reassuring squeeze. "It's just Black Star. No big deal."

"_How do you expect me to relax when that idiot is going to tell everyone something that isn't true!_" Maka screeched, scorching him with a furious glare. He was unfazed. He was far too used to them already.

"They'll never believe him." Soul deadpanned. "They know how he gets." She felt his arms snake around her waist again, his breath feathering the sensitive skin of her collarbone. She sucked in a breath, her heart pounding again. "I'm still gonna' punch him when I see him later, though," he murmured huskily, causing shivers to run down her arms. "He insulted you... and that bastard killed the mood."

Maka's face reddened. She would _never _get used to this...

"_Mewr_ – why can't you talk to Blair like that, Soul-kun?" Blair whined from outside the sill, smiling coyly at their surprise. Maka started forward in shock, Soul following her lead.

Then Maka's eyes narrowed dangerously. She was reaching into her sweats again. "Blair! _You are in so much_—!"

Soul immediately snapped the window closed, shutting out Blair. "No way – I've waited _too_ _long_ for that stupid cat to ruin this for me!"

"But, S-Soul, Blair—!"

"You can get her back later." Soul grinned, almost menacingly. Maka had reason to feel as if she were going to be devoured like the souls she fed him after a mission. "Right now, it's just you, me, and that wall over there."

"But—_Soul, no, put me down!_"

When Black Star tried to sneak into their apartment two hours later, he was ambushed by a stack of books Maka had set up by the window.

He didn't wake up until Soul nudged him with his shoe a few minutes later, smugly stating that all the beer at Kid's house had been drained by Liz, and the young Death God would not be hosting any more of those parties ever again since Liz and Black Star broke the chair they had been arm wrestling on before he left to retrieve Soul.

And the chair had not been broken in two equal pieces...

That was probably the worst thing Black Star ever heard in his entire life – the beer thing, he meant.

At least, before Maka ran into the room and dropped kicked him with one of her famous battle cries.

Tsubaki had to drag him back home a few hours after that - but not after sending Maka a look that conveyed they would speak of the new developments between she and her partner at school.

Maka dreaded going to school on Monday for two reasons:

Liz, Patty and Tsubaki would milk out the most important details from her and draw their own conclusions...

And she had a feeling all of Soul's admirers would hate her even more when they realized she'd basically made out with him.

A few times.

* * *

**A.N: **I _warned_ you it would be massive.

This has an abrupt, lame, ending because this story could go on for... at least six more pages, knowing me, and I deemed this LONG enough already. Jesus, this is a monster.

_Scarlett._


End file.
